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Hawaii reports 1 new coronavirus-related death and 74 additional infections

CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARADVERTISER.COM
                                Volunteers Mark Weisbecker, left, Chris Espino and Benjamin Walters carried boxes of food to waiting cars on Friday at the Salvation Army’s Kroc Center in Kapolei. The economic upheaval from the pandemic has greatly increased food insecurity in Hawaii.

CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARADVERTISER.COM

Volunteers Mark Weisbecker, left, Chris Espino and Benjamin Walters carried boxes of food to waiting cars on Friday at the Salvation Army’s Kroc Center in Kapolei. The economic upheaval from the pandemic has greatly increased food insecurity in Hawaii.

Hawaii Department of Health officials today reported one new coronavirus-related death and 74 additional infections statewide, bringing the state’s totals since the start of the pandemic to 484 fatalities and 32,654 cases.

The latest death was a Maui man in his 60s who had underlying health conditions and died in a hospital.

The state’s official coronavirus-related death toll includes 374 fatalities on Oahu, 53 on Hawaii island, 52 on Maui, two on Kauai and three Hawaii residents who died outside the state.

The U.S. coronavirus-related death toll today is more than 577,000 and the nationwide infection tally is over 32 million.

Today’s new statewide infection cases include 49 on Oahu, 11 on Maui, seven on Kauai, four on Hawaii island and three Hawaii residents diagnosed outside the state, according to health officials.

>> RELATED: Getting second half of Hawaii’s population to take COVID-19 vaccine is a challenge

The statistics released today reflect the new infection cases reported to the department on Saturday.

The total number of coronavirus cases by island since the start of the outbreak are 25,029 on Oahu, 3,433 on Maui, 2,707 in Hawaii County, 276 on Kauai, 111 on Lanai and 37 on Molokai. There are also 1,061 Hawaii residents who were diagnosed outside of the state.

Health officials also said today that of the state’s total infection count, 1,170 cases were considered to be active. Officials say they consider infections reported in the past 14 days to be a “proxy number for active cases.” The number of active cases in the state increased by eight today.

By island, Oahu has 848 active cases, Maui has 181, Kauai has 76, the Big Island has 63, Molokai has two and Lanai has none.

Health officials counted 4,925 new COVID-19 test results in today’s tally, for a 1.5% statewide positivity rate. The state’s 7-day average positivity rate is 1.6%, according to the Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard.

The Hawaii COVID-19 vaccine summary said that 1,225,438 vaccine doses have been administered through state and federal distribution programs as of today.

Of all the confirmed Hawaii infection cases, 2,146 have required hospitalizations, with no new hospitalizations reported today by state health officials.

Eight hospitalizations in the statewide count are Hawaii residents who were diagnosed and treated outside the state. Of the 2,138 hospitalizations within the state, 1,794 have been on Oahu, 210 on Maui, 119 on the Big Island, nine on Kauai, five on Lanai and one on Molokai.

According to the latest information from the department’s Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard, a total of 53 patients with the virus were in Hawaii hospitals as of today, with 10 in intensive care units and four on ventilators.

Oahu moved into the less-restrictive Tier 3 of the city’s four-tier economic recovery plan on Feb. 25 after being in Tier 2 since Oct. 22. Tier 3 permits social and outdoor recreational gatherings of up to 10 people, and restaurants to seat 10 people at a table. Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi on March 11 announced modifications to Tier 3, including allowing bars to reopen under the same conditions as restaurants and extending the curfew until midnight.

Honolulu will remain in Tier 3 of the city’s COVID-19 reopening framework until at least Wednesday.

Blangiardi said today in a tweet that his office would no longer be posting the seven-day average and seven-day positivity rate for Oahu. They will instead be posting a weekly update on the coronavirus situation for the island, he said.

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